LAS VEGAS – A quick left hook that caught Ramsey Nijem on the button set up a first-round knockout victory for Tony Ferguson.

It also earned the season pariah the welterweight championship of “The Ultimate Fighter 13.”

The fight headlined The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale, which took place Saturday at The Pearl at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. The night’s main card aired on Spike TV, and the preliminary card streamed for free on Facebook.

Ferguson scored the first takedown after ducking under a punch and wrapping his opponent’s hips. Nijem got back to his feet after a scramble on the mat. Ferguson then got another takedown after avoiding a barrage of punches from his opponent, but Nijem again quickly was back up.

But once there, Ferguson missed on a right but landed the follow-up left hook. Nijem hit the mat, and Ferguson followed up with punches to earn the knockout win.

The end came at the 3:54 mark of the opening round.

On the season’s second-to-last episode, Ferguson became the show’s outcast (and a frequent target of fan criticism) after a drunken tirade in which he taunted castmate Charlie Rader about his custody issues with his son. The rest of the 14-man cast turned on Ferguson, and in recent weeks, he’s received death threats and an avalanche of negative publicity.

After his win, he showed contrition.

“I learned a lot about myself in there,” Team Brock Lesnar’s third-round pick said. “I kept a lot of stuff bottled up, and I brought a lot of inner demons with me inside there. But every single time, what I tried to do what fight them out and leave them out there.

“From here on out, I want to do the right thing, make a good example, set something up for these kids so I can be a role model.”

Clay Guida simply wanted to leapfrog final WEC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis on the UFC contender ladder. And he did that with a dominant and smothering unanimous-decision victory in the night’s co-headliner.

Pettis, who had been promised a title shot until champ Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard fought to a draw and saw a subsequent booking delayed, simply was overwhelmed by the wrestler’s relentless attempts to close distance and maintain top control.

Guida won the first round after scoring a takedown and maintaining top position. Pettis, though, continually looked for armbar and triangle-choke attempts while delivering punches and hammerfists from his back.

Guida got another takedown in the second and spoiled the first three minutes of the fight while working to keep Pettis on the mat. But once Pettis broke free and created some distance, he landed a nice array of kicks. Pettis, though, couldn’t full commit due to the fear of a takedown, and Guida ultimately checked a kick and forced the fight to the mat. He closed out another round in top position, but only after Pettis gave him a scare with an armbar attempt in the final seconds of the round.

Pettis again found himself on his back in the final frame when Guida used a stiff right to set up a quick takedown. Pettis searched for a submission that never came, but after working back to his feet, he overpowered Guida on a trip to the mat. He took a dominant back-mount position during the transition and delivered punches to the head and body. But with his positioning too high, Guida scooted out the back and reclaimed top position, where he closed out the fight with his own back-mount position.

In the end, all three judges scored it 30-27 for “The Carpenter.”

And as before the fight, Guida made no secret of his desire to fight for the belt after his latest win.

“We showed them what wrestling was all about,” he said. “I want to show I’m the No. 1 contender. If you guys want to see the most exciting lightweight fight in the world, put me in the ring Joe Silva, Dana White, UFC. You know it’s coming.”

Guida (29-11 MMA, 9-5 UFC) now has won four straight and seven of his past nine. Pettis (13-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) snaps a four-fight win streak.

Herman scores 48-second TKO after 22-month layoff

A devastating knee injury kept Ed Herman out of the cage for 22 months. Once back in, it took him only 48 seconds to get back out.

The middleweight and “TUF 3″ runner-up used a damaging uppercut and a series of accurate follow-up punches to earn a quick and efficient first-round TKO victory over “TUF 7″ alumm Tim Credeur.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Herman, who required two surgeries after suffering a shredded knee in a 2009 loss to Aaron Simpson. “To come out and win like that is awesome.”

Herman struck before either fighter really could get into a rhythm. Credeur tested his the fighter’s surgically repaired knee with low kicks, but Herman soon saw his opening, used his left hand to pull down his opponent’s hand, and then dropped him with a pair of quick right uppercuts to the chin. Once Credeur hit the mat, Herman briefly put him out with a follow-up right punch and forced the stoppage with the subsequent barrage.

“It’s been my money punch,” Herman said of the uppercut.

Herman (20-7 MMA, 5-5 UFC) snaps out of a 1-3 skid and evens his UFC record with the win. Credeur (12-4 MMA, 3-2 UFC), who fought for the first time in 21 months due to injuries and a brain-cancer scare, suffers back-to-back losses for the first time in his career.

Massive Kingsbury edges Maldonado

Kyle Kingsbury earned a close unanimous-decision victory over Fabio Maldonado, but the light heavyweight’s massive and bulked-up frame – and arguably questionable judges’ scorecards – were the stories of the fight.

Kingsbury, who was a large 205-pounder even during his time on “TUF 8,” looked a weight class or two bigger than Maldonado, who tipped the scale at just 203 pounds at Friday’s weigh-ins. The size wasn’t necessarily the deciding factor – but it did help Kingsbury inflict some early damage from the clinch.

Kingsbury’s knees from the clinch came rapid fire early in the fight, but Maldonado soon found his answer with body shots. That led Kingsbury to some takedown attempts and more fighting from distance. Ultimately, though, Kingsbury was slowed by a badly swollen eye while Maldonado dealt with his own facial cuts and bleeding. Maldonado appeared to take the final two rounds thanks to more strikes, but – despite Maldonado’s slight edge in total strikes landed – the judges ultimately scored the fight for Kingsbury.

“I’m very happy with the win,” he said. “I thought I earned it. But I’ve never been in a tougher fight.”

Kingsbury (11-2 MMA, 4-1 UFC) quietly has worked his way into the fringe of the title picture with his fourth straight win. Maldonado (18-4 MMA, 1-1 UFC) snaps an 11-fight win streak, which included a UFC 120 TKO of James McSweeney.

Cope tops O’Neil in stand-up fight

Showing much better striking and conditioning since his time on the reality show, Chris Cope defeated fellow “TUF 13″ semifinalist Chuck O’Neil via unanimous decision in the night’s first televised fight.

The welterweight fight, which was largely a kickboxing match, favored Cope, who mixed punches and kicks from varying angles to keep O’Neil off balance. Cope closed out the fight with some solid (if telegraphed) spinning back kicks and fists, and he kept O’Neil from putting together any sustained attacks during the bout’s 15-minute duration.

All three judges gave Cope the clean sweep for a 30-27 victory.

“A lot of people growing up doubted me,” said Cope, a Team Lesnar fifth-round pick who defeated O’Neil, the team’s injury replacement. “I was laughed at. People said I wasn’t that good of an athlete. Look at me now. How do I look in high-definition?

“I’m just constantly trying to improve.”

Cope (5-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) now has won two straight, which included a 2010 Strikeforce victory. O’Neil (8-5 MMA, 0-1 UFC) snaps a three-fight win streak.

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